Posts Tagged ‘interview’

This month, Super Show Approved had the chance to catch up with Zack Kruse, creator of The Contingent and Mystery Solved!.

I know your book The Contingent has some pretty mainstream elements in it. Could you tell me a little about the series and where you find your inspiration?

Without question, Steve Ditko is my number one source of inspiration. Once I started working on this series and shaping the characters personalities, he became my primary source of inspiration. Steve created VERY distinct characters. You always knew where you stood with his heroes. Conversely, you never knew where you stood with his antagonists—it was commonly a grey area for them and the grey area is ultimately what led them to villainy. Those are fascinating story elements to deal with, I think, and Steve was a master at it.

Inspiration aside, really, I just wanted to write a story and create characters that I would enjoy reading. Doing that has really helped me create an emotional bond with each of the characters and that bond really fuels my writing.

Do you find it tough writing mainstream comics for the indie crowd?

Umm, I don’t know. Haha. To be perfectly honest, I never really ever factored that in. Really, my intent with the series was never to make it an indie book or a mainstream book.

I mean, like I had said before, I really just write stories that I know I would enjoy reading. I’m kind of the opinion that once your start creeping your way into that mode of “I’m writing for this crowd” or “I create comics that this appeal to this group of fans”, you can really pigeon hole yourself as a creator and you end up running the risk of creating just to please someone else. Ultimately that I can make people jaded and will lead to substandard work. At least that’s how I look at.

So I’ve always been a proponent of doing your own thing, because that’s what will make you the happiest. If you’re happy creating, you’ll create more, and you may just hit on something great.

How many issues do you have planned?

50. That’s how many are plotted out and I intend to completely end the series after that. As it stands, after issue 6 we’re going to put out the trade and then take a hiatus from the book to get some other projects rolling and knocked out. But we’ll be moving forward with the book again soon, hopefully some time in 2011.

What mainstream books are you enjoying right now?

There are a lot that I’ve really been enjoying; Incredible Hercules has been fantastic and so has DC’s R.E.B.E.L.S. There’s other consistently good titles like Jonah Hex, Agents of Atlas, Punisher, and BatmanandRobin. Not mention all of the incredible titles that are coming out from DC’s Vertigo imprint.

But really, that’s just a handful of the mainstream books I read.

Any indies catch your eye lately?

Oh, yeah. TONS! I love reading indies, just for the simple fact that there is always something new and it’s almost always honest. Quite frankly, I don’t care who publishes a particular comic, I just want it to be good. And if it’s produced honestly, it’s more than likely going to be good. You can pretty much bet on the fact that the people behind those books are doing it for the love of the content and/or the medium.

Last year my two favorite books to come out were, by far and away, SkyscrapersofTheMidwest and AsteriosPolyp. Both are fantastic, emotionally resonating books that I think every comic fan should read. I’ve really been digging Chew and Phil Hester’s TheAnchor and, of course RASL has just been great to read, too.

Indie/creator owned comics have sort of become my bread and butter over the past few years. There is some really great stuff out there that people NEED to read, but they don’t give it a second glance because it doesn’t have that big Marvel or DC logo in the upper left corner. One of the great things about comics, and indies in particular, is that there really is something for everyone. It’s just a matter of taking that first step.

Mystery Solved! Is shaping up to be a really great webstrip. What circumstances led you to decide on a rotating lineup of artists?

Thank you! I think it’s shaping up rather nicely as well.

Rotating artists was born of necessity. The primary circumstance that led to the rotating team of artists is my own inability to draw. I can do some humorous doodles, but in order to bring the stories to life, I needed real talent. The bad news for me was a lot of the artists that I wanted to work with, you included, have other projects going and their own projects going.

So it occurred to me that by approaching all of these artists, whose work I admire, I’m able to work with some outstanding talent, get some really great looking stories, and (hopefully) able to work within each of their schedules as well. The bonus to all of that is that each story has its own personality.

Do you create your stories with certain artists in mind, or do you seek out artists after a story is written?

It’s sort of a mixed bag. There are some scripts that I have complete and ready to go and there are others that I don’t really start to put together until after an artist has signed on. For example, I’ll approach artist A and say I have these story ideas, do you think that you would enjoy working any of these? Once they sort of let me know their preference I’ll either start constructing a new script with them in mind. Or, if they choose a story where the script is already written, I’ll take that existing script and tweak it as necessary.

Mystery Solved! Is all about Colonel Winchester debunking urban legends and the supernatural. Will he ever come across a mystery he can’t solve?

Haha. Probably not. I am a pretty big skeptic and my primary goal with the series is to go about debunking each of these urban myths or bits of mysticism that the Colonel encounters. Skepticism is often confused with cynicism and I hope I’m able to diffuse that with MysterySolved! and present readers with a more rational, empirical, outlook for the phenomenon that the Colonel encounters.

I make a pretty concerted effort with each strip to research the topic and find out what the real scientific consensus is, find actual stories, and so on, and then present that information in a humorous way.

I hate to put you on the spot, but other than me (ha!), who have you enjoyed working with the most?

Honestly, everyone who has turned in work to me so far has been nothing short of fantastic. I mean that with all sincerity. Jim Miller did some great character designs based on my descriptions, and really helped establish the world. You turned in a great looking story with some great work on the panel layouts, Andy Jewett has turned in some really nice looking preliminary work, and Dave Wachter…well wait’ll you get a load of Dave’s pages.

I’ve been very fortunate with the people I’ve been able to work with and I’m forever grateful to all of them. On the other hand, I feel at least a little bad for the people who have to follow them…

If you could pick one artist to work with on your dream project, who would it be?

Ditko. Doing a Blue Beetle/Question story with Steve Ditko is the dream that will never come true, but I fantasize about constantly.

What about Super Show are you looking forward to the most?

Getting together with friends. That’s always my favorite part…

For more information on all of Zack’s projects, visit www.mysterysolvedcomic.com, and be sure to drop by his table at the Super Show!

We’ll be back soon with another 100% Super Show Approved interview. Join us, won’t you?

This week, 100% Super Show Approved’s Dave Dwonch sits with PKD Media’s Shawn Pryor to see what makes the “Mercury and the Murd” and “Wasted Wonderland” creator tick!

What was the first comic you ever read?

The first comic I truly read was Marvel Comics Star Wars, issue #47. I was with my Mom in a convenient store called United Dairy Farmers as a five year old and saw a spinner rack of comics. Nothing caught my eye until I saw the big Star Wars logo with C-3PO and R2-D2 running for their lives in the menacing “Droid World!” I loved Star Wars and I had no idea that a comic book existed for it. I begged my Mom to get it for me and I read it from front to back and took it with me everywhere for a good month. From that point on I asked my parents when the next issue was coming out; I couldn’t wait! I needed more comics, especially Star Wars. So I can honestly blame my mom for my comic’s addiction!

When did you decide to make the jump to creating comics?

My decision came after spending some time at the 2007 Pittsburgh Comicon. I had been reading comics again for two years, and I met you and the guys from Comic Geek Speak. After buying loads of comics from the bargain bins, I realized that I needed to turn my love for comics into a contribution to the comics medium. I enjoy telling stories, and I decided to put my fears away and give it a go. That and I promised you and a few other people that I would be returning to the Pittsburgh Comicon in 2008 with my creator-owned projects so I had to put up or shut-up.

If you had your choice, which mainstream character would you want to write and why?

Now that is a tough question. I almost chose Snake Eyes, but if I had my choice I would write stories for The Falcon. Even though Ed Brubaker has given Sam Wilson’s character depth and explained what his friendship meant to Captain America, I would like to prove to comic readers why he’s an important Avenger, fantastic superhero, and that he can have fantastic adventures.

Who has been your main influence as a writer?

I have four: Dwayne McDuffie, Denny O’Neil, Bob Layton and Gerry Conway. All four of these gentlemen have ether had great runs in comics or built great comic book universes that have a solid foundation of storytelling built underneath them. Bob Layton and Denny O’Neil both had solid runs on Iron Man and made Rhodey a kick-ass Armored Avenger, Gerry Conway actually made me care about Justice League Detroit, and Dwayne McDuffie has been able to balance himself between the world of animation and comics and translate both mediums for kids and adults. Their writing skills are off the chain and I’ve learned a ton from them.

You’ve been known to throw Comic Geek Speak hosts and other podcasters into your stories. Which “character” is your favorite to write?

Hands down, my favorite is “The Murd” from Mercury & the Murd. Basing a character off of Adam Murdough from Comic Geek Speak has been the quite the challenge, but it’s been a ton of fun making him into an eclectic police detective. I just hope the readers enjoy him as much as I do.

You’ve been creating so many memorable stories that people have been throwing around the nickname “Stan Leeroy.” What’s your take on the nickname?

I take that nickname as a badge of honor. Stan Lee was (and still is) a hustler of comics. All I’m trying to do is channel that hustling spirit as a creator, writer and publisher and prove to the masses that small press and indie comics are just as good as the stuff in the mainstream. It’s an uphill battle, but it’s one that Stan Leeroy loves to take on!

If you had to choose one of your creations to work on exclusively, which would it be and why?

That’s an easy one: Blacks Danger in Space. It’s my own Buck Rogers and it brings me joy every time I see Andrew Charipar take my script and create a beautiful story from it. I love it.

Explain your creative process. Do you work from outline to full script? How much leeway do you give your artists?

It varies with whom I’m working with and the project. Some projects are outlines with panel descriptions/layouts, but normally I like to give a full script.

As far as leeway goes, it again depends on who I’m working with. If the artist is new to the game of comics I’ll give them a little leeway, but once I build a rapport with an artist they can flex their artistic muscle without any issues. But if there’s an issue I make sure that we talk about it.

The whole goal is to build a solid line of communication between the artist and me in order to make the working relationship one where we can both grow and have fun with it, and at the same time respect the medium and get the work done in a timely manner.

I’m going to throw out the names of some of your recent collaborators. Give me the first word that comes to mind:

A lot of the artists you’ve worked with you found on the CGS Comic Forums. How long have you been a part of the community? How long have you been listening to their show?

I started listening to CGS when they released their Star Wars Episode III Movie Review back in early 2005, and at that time I wasn’t reading comics at all. I listened to a few more episodes and I was hooked afterwards. I was a lurker on the forums for awhile, got an account, posted a bit under the name Optimusblack, and then I went away for awhile, lost my password and came back as Optimusblack2007. Because of CGS I read (and create) comics. It’s a good thing. If it wasn’t for the CGS community I would’ve never met you, Mercury & the Murd and the million titles I write would not exist and I would have money in the bank. (LOL)

What are you looking forward to most about the Comic Geek Speak Super Show?

Just being able to see everybody again, hang out, and make new friends. The Super Show is where I met Andrew Charipar and now we collaborate on a few comics. The Super Show is the family reunion I want to go to. Everybody that’s there is there for the love of comics and art and it’s just a great time that no one should pass up on.

Where The Magic Happens: It's a wonder Shawn gets any work done with all the distractions in his office!

For more information on all of Shawn’s projects, visit www.pkdmedia.com, and be sure to pay him a visit at the Super Show!